Organizations involved in secure communications, for example, between servers and other servers or client nodes, maintain integrity and confidentiality of data using encryption and signature services between nodes. Such services may include public and private key systems, that include public and private key generation and distribution, signature services, random number generation, authentication, certificate administration, and infrastructure monitoring. To efficiently administer such systems, organizations may implement centralized or distributed services engines that allow controlled access to users, depending on a business need.
Given the particular sensitivity of encryption infrastructure to the continued functioning of businesses, an increased emphasis on security and services availability often drives access to such infrastructure to a limited group within a business, creating bottlenecks and increased costs. However, solutions that segregate responsibility for services availability and security across a widely distributed enterprise may fall victim to a variety of sub-optimal solutions and non-standard processes that slow business process changes, and increase costs of basic maintenance tasks.